Positive Health Online

Abstract

STARKWEATHER and co-workers, Washington State University's Intercollegiate College of Nursing, USA, have reviewed (41 references) the application of psychoneuroimmunology to nursing. Abstract: Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) provides a distinct perspective on the interrelatedness of the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. PNI explicates the possible means by which behaviour and feelings can influence immune function. Moreover, PNI explains the means by which the immune system affects the nervous system and affects psychological response. The interactions among these systems are mediated at the molecular level by cytokines and hormones produced by cells of not just the immune but also the nervous and endocrine systems. These cytokines and hormones affect endocrine and neuronal processes that, in turn, affect mood, emotions, personal perception, as well as the immune response. Analysis of the effect of cytokines and hormones at the molecular, cellular, and peripheral level is under intense investigation. Such analysis will lead to a better understanding of the connections among the psychological, neurological, and immunological systems. This understanding will provide for a holistic perspective upon which better health care can be provided, discomfort minimized, and disease prevented. The use of such a perspective in neuroscience nursing investigation can elicit novel approaches to care.

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References

Starkweather A, Witek-Janusek L, Mathews HL. Applying the psychoneuroimmunology framework to nursing research. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing 37 (1): 56-62, Feb 2005.